Machine learning algorithm to help VCs choose startups

Machine learning API company, BigML, and Telefónica Open Future, the telecom’s global entrepreneurship and innovation network, have partnered to build an algorithm that helps venture capitalists decide which startups to invest in.

This is a world first, according to the companies, which will test their new algorithm through a startup battle event series.

Startups working in the predictive analytics space that are looking for early stage investment will be able to participate in competitions as part of the PAPIs CONNECT events and PAPIs conferences.

The new machine learning algorithm will automatically select the startup contestants and decide on a winner that’s best for one of the Telefónica Open Future funds to invest in.

The idea behind having a machine decide which startup to invest in is to avoid any human bias that goes into investment decisions and test whether an algorithm could make smarter investment decisions, BigML said.

Last month, BigML acquired a software tool from Australian company, G.I. Webb and Associates. The Magnum Opus software uses k-optimal (top-k) association discovery, meaning finding items in the data that are associated with one another. Geoff Webb, originally a research professor at from Monash University, who developed the software, is now BigML’s technical advisor.